A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to handling seed, and in particular, to the automatic and high-throughput processing of previously harvested plants, plant parts and/or seed used in plant breeding programs and applications.
B. Problems in the Art
As is well known in the art, soybean breeding is an arduous science. The harvesting, handling, and ultimate processing of soybean seed into containers is an exacting and labor intensive process. Strict standards exist with regard to the same. One important part is the harvesting and handling of breeding seeds. Not only is it crucial to keep track of such things as particular characteristics of the seeds (e.g. genotype, inbred identification, where they were grown); each seed and each seed sample must be carefully handled and evaluated, so that there is a high probability the selected seeds will germinate and so that there is no contamination of the seeds. Only those that meet certain criteria (e.g. undamaged, not diseased, correct characteristics) are used for further breeding activities.
For example, breeding, product development, and product characterization/commercialization processes require the production, evaluation, and use of many samples of soybean. Each sample may be taken from one, a few or many soybean plants. Typically, soybean plants are grown to maturity, and then conditioned and processed in the following separate steps: artificially or naturally cured, threshed, the seed cleaned and sized, and then packaged either for replanting or shipment to other locations for yield testing or breeding evaluation. This process must be conducted so that there is no intermingling or cross-contamination of seed samples, and must include a step for removing such things as inert matter, excessively small or large seed, and damaged or diseased seed. This process, from threshing through packaging, is currently substantially manual in nature, and processes samples at the rate of 15-20 samples/person-hour. Each of the steps is usually conducted separately, with non-integrated devices or machinery.
For example, seed samples are conventionally processed as follows. Soybean plants are harvested in the field and then an identifying tag is secured to each plant separately or to a group of bundled plants. The soybean plants are passed through a thresher. The seed is then cleaned using any of a number of different methods ranging from spiral separators and aspirators.
All of these approaches seek to remove non-round, immature or small seed along with any other unwanted plant material and/or debris. The semi-finished seed is then manually inspected and any damaged or diseased beans are removed. The seed is then counted by hand, packaged and shipped to other nurseries for planting.
All of the seed transfers between pieces of equipment occur by hand, the cleaning operation may be performed manually, and the transfer to a package occurs manually. Given that the processing of seed relies heavily on manual processes or intervention, there is always the likelihood of errors or mistakes occurring because of fatigue, operator error, or boredom.
It can therefore be seen that there is a significant need in the art for an improvement in such processing of soybean seed. Similar methods are used to process other types of seed samples. It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an automated high-throughput seed processing apparatus and method which improves over the state of the art. Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention include a seed processing apparatus and method for seed samples which:                (a) provides significant improvement in the time needed to process seeds;        (b) maintains or exceeds quality of current seed processing apparatuses and methods;        (c) reduces labor costs;        (d) reduces errors or mistakes;        (e) can be substantially or completely automated;        (f) is flexible, can be varied according to need, and allows integration of a plurality of seed processing functions;        (g) provides good discrimination between desirable and undesirable seed;        (h) allows for accurate tracking and identification during and after processing of the seed;        (i) is economical and efficient;        (j) is durable;        (k) allows non-destructive, careful handling of seed;        (l) allows communication between those that need to use the seed and the processing of the samples to assist in the efficiency and intelligence of a wider system involving use of the seed;        (m) can include automatic notification or communication of intelligence about the processing and the seed to those wanting or needing to know such information;        (n) allows for automated or machine assisted decisions to assist in efficiency and accuracy of the seed processing;        (o) is integratable with a number of functions or processes to reduce labor, expense, time and errors in processing seed; and        (p) provides accurate counts of seed processed to ensure accuracy in post processing functions and processes, such as planting.        
These and other objects, features, and advantages of invention will become more apparent with reference to the accompanying specification and claims.